Cap feeding slide



y 18, 1954 G. N. BAER 2,678,763

CAP FEEDING SLIDE Filed June 13, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 JNVENTOR. Graze:MwranrEm,

G. N. BAER I CAP FEEDING SLIDE May 18, 1954 Filed June 13, 1951 2Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Patented May 18, 1954 UNITED STATES CAI FEEDINGSLIDE Application June 13, 1951, Serial No. 231,399

12 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a cap feeding slide, and is primarilyconcerned with the provision of means for facilitating and improving theapplication of closure caps to receptacles as such receptacles moveserially past a capping station. The invention finds its primaryutility. in the application of metal foil caps to milk bottles orsimilar receptacles, and therefore it has been illustrated and will bedescribed in that environment, though it will be readily recognized thatit may fnd utility in other relationships.

The primary object of the present is to provide means whereby such caps,delivered successively to a capping station, past which receptacles movein a series upon a conveyor, or the like, may be brought into accurateregistry with such receptacles, even though the receptacles may not beaccurately aligned as they, approach and pass the capping station.Further objects of the invention will appear as the:

description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention maybe, embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings,attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings areillustrative only, and that change may be made inthe specificconstruction illustrated and described. so long as the scope of theappended claims is not violated.

Fig. l is a perspective view, more or less diagrammatic, of anembodiment, of my invention.

in operative relation to a conveyor upon which milk bottles are movedserially past the device of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the feeding device ofthepresent invention;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig, 4 is a rear elevation thereof; and

Figs. 5 and 6 arerespectively rear and front perspective views of thedevice of the present invention.

In conventional practice, receptacles to be closed by are carried, inserial arrangement, past a delivery chute through which caps aredelivered, in succession to be applied to such receptacles,respectively. In Fig. l, I have shown a rectilinear conveyor it, but itwill be readily appreciated that a star wheel or rotary conveyor ofany'typemay be substituted therefor. As shown, filled milk bottles I iare carried in succession upon the conveyor it; but, in accordance withconventional practice, the conveyor ii) has a lateral dimension somewhatgreater than that of, an individual bottle, so, that thfiabQttlES mayvbearranged mill; bottles or other invention foil caps, or the like,

as shown, upon said conveyor in rather hetero? geneous misalignment, A1111 it at the mouth of each bottle is adapted to receive a cap itwhich, as shown, comprises a disc-like body i l with a dependent skirtor flange It. The caps are so proportioned that, when a cap is properlydeposited upon the lip l2. of a bottle, its skirt will loosely encirclethe bottle lip, and said skirtwill subsequently be shaped to grip thebottle lip firmly to hold the cap in place thereon.

At the cap applying station, 'a slide it leads caps, in single file, toa delivery chute indicated generally by the reference numeral ll.Conventicnally, such chute comprises a body l8 formed to provide apassage iii, so dimensioned as to receive caps i3 successively and holdthem in, serial. arrangement. A cover plate it closes the front side ofthe passage [9; and, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention,that edge of the chute with which the slide it registers is left open asatZ i. Means,.such as'a coiledspring 22, having its lower end anchoredto the ohutahas its upper end 23 anchored at 2 1 on the slide It toclose that portion of the edge 2-! below the slide it. The lower endordelivery mouth 25 of the passage is is laterally; enlarged to compensatefor misalignment of thebottles H with respect to the chute passage I9.

On the rear surfaceof the body 13, a wiper gate 26 is hingedly supportedupon a bar 21 supported in brackets 28, 28 at opposite edges or" saidbody; and a coiled spring 23 resiliently holds said gate in itssolid-line position of Fig. 3, for a purpose later to appear.

A retainer member as is supported at the;

delivery end of the chute i'i, said retainer memher being formed with a.passage 3i The upper end of said passage 3% is constantly in registrywith the mouth 26 of the passage l9; and said member is formed toprovide downwardly-converging lips 32, 32 whose adjacent edges arespaced apart by a distance minutely less than the diameter of a capskirt it so that,

as a cap moves from the chute it intothe-passage 31-, it'will be caught,upon the lips 32, 32', and

lightly frictionally held in the position illustrated in Figs. 2 to 4.

In this position, the lower portion of the cap projects into the planeof movement of the lips.

i2 of the advancing receptacles.- it so that, if a. bottle lip moveswill engagezthe. flange I5 to extract the cap from; the retainer memberedge of the cap will fall, under such circum therethrough.

past the chute iii in proper alignment with the-cap so supported, suchlip 12;

36. The upper, trailingstances, over the trailing portion of the bottlelip 12; and the wiper 26 will be swung, in a counter-clockwise directionas viewed in Fig. 3, to its dotted-line position in that figure, sothat, as the bottle moves past the Capping station, the wiper will tendto press the cap into place on the bottle mouth in a manner wellunderstood in the art.

If, however, such an advancing bottle is not properly aligned with thecap [3, in conventional structures, the cap will not properly fall intoplace on the bottle lip, and the bottle may pass the capping stationwithout being properly capped.

According to the present invention, a bar 33 is secured to the frontsurface of the retainer member 36 by screws 34, or the like, and saidbar is slidably transversely movable in brackets 35, 35 secured to theforward face of the closure wall 29 of the chute i1. Said brackets areprovided with rearwardly-extending toes 36, 36 upon which the retainermember 33 is slidably supported. A cam element 31, having divergentwings 38, 3B, is suitably secured to the forward face of the bar 33; andit will be perceived that said wings 3B, 38 are provided with downwardprojections 33, 39 intersecting the plane of movement of the bottle lipsl2.

Remembering that the cap i3, ready for delivery to a bottle, issupported solely within the retainer member 38, it will now be seenthat, if a bottle approaches the capping station upon a line laterallydisplaced from central register with the cap currently supported in theretainer member 3d, the bottle lip will strike the projection 39 of oneor the other of the wings 38. The inclination of said wings with respectto the line of travel of the bottles is such that, as a bottle strikesand moves past one of said projections, the retainer member 36 will bebodily cammed laterally to bring its retained cap into accurate registrywith the line of movement of the currently-coactive bottle, whereby, asthe bottle passes between the projections 39 of the wing 38, thecurrently presented cap will be properly deposited upon the bottle lip.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine for depositing articles on elements moving seriallytherepast, a chute through which such articles move successively towardthe path of such elements, retainer means at the delivery end of suchchute for holding a single article intersecting the plane of travel of aportion of such an element, said retainer means providing a plurality ofmutually-facing, relatively immovable article-engaging surfaces mountedfor bodily movement transversely of the line of travel of such anelement, and means operatively connected to said retainer means andflaring laterally to both sides of said line, said means beingengageable by such an element as it approaches said retainer means toshift said retainer means and said single article into registeringalignment with such element.

2. For use with a conveyor and elements carried serially on suchconveyor, a chute for articles to be deposited individually on suchelements, said chute guiding said articles serially toward suchconveyor, a retainer member having a mouth, registering at all timeswith the delivery end of said chute, and being arranged to receivearticles serially from said chute end, said retainer member providing aplurality of relatively immovable, article-engaging surfaces cooperatingto retain each such article for deposit on an element carried on suchconveyor, means supporting said retainer member for transverse bodilymovement relative to the direction of travel of such conveyor, a pair ofwings, stationary with respect to each other and projecting from saidretainer member toward and in the plane of travel of portions ofelements advancing on such conveyor, the ends of said wings remote fromsaid member extending laterally away from each other and the ends ofsaid wings adjacent said member being spaced apart only sufficiently topermit such element portions to pass therebetween, said lastnamed wingends being equally laterally spaced from the center of an articlesupported by said retainer member, whereby each such element willaccurately register with an article so supported as it passes saidretainer member.

3. In combination a conveyor adapted to carry bottles past acap-applying station, the transverse dimension of said'conveyorexceeding the corresponding dimension of the mouth of a bottle to betransported thereby, a chute arranged above said conveyor to conductflanged caps serially to said cap-applying station, a cap-retainerarranged at the delivery end of said chute and adapted to receive a capfrom said chute and to retain the same with its flange depending intothe plane of travel of the mouths of bottles being transported on saidconveyor, said retainer including means providing a plurality ofmutuallyi'acing, relatively immovable, cap-engaging surfaces mounted forbodily movement transversely of the line of travel of said conveyor, andcam means operatively connected to said retainer, disposed to intersectsaid travel plane, and projecting laterally in opposite directions fromthe position of a cap so retained by said retainer, said cam means beingengageable by a bottle being transported on said conveyor to shift saidretainer to align such cap accurately with the mouth of such bottle.

4. In a device of the class described, a chute for conducting articlesserially to a delivery station, an article retainer supported at saidstation to receive articles, one at a time, from said chute, saidretainer having a receiving mouth, wider than an article, registeringwith said chute and having converging, relatively stationary fingersbeyond said mouth engageable with an article to retain the same, saidretainer being mounted for transverse bodily movement relative to saidchute, and cam means carried by said retainer and. engageable by anelement moving in a line substantially perpendicular to the path ofmovement of said retainer to shift said retainer to register an articleretained thereby with the line of movement of such element.

5. In a device of the class described, a chute and an article retainersupported from said chute in registry with the discharge end of saidchute to receive articles serially from said chute, said retainerincluding a plurality of mutually-facing, relatively immovable,article-supporting surfaces and being bodily shiftable transversely ofsaid chute, and cam means carried by said retainer and oppositelyinclined relative to the path of movement of said retainer.

6. For use with a conveyor, a chute, a delivery unit, means supportingsaid unit in cooperative registry with the mouth of said chute forbodily movement, relative to said chute, transversely with respect tothe direction of movement of such conveyor, and means carried by saidunit and providing opposed, relatively stationary cam surfaces divergingin a direction opposite the direction of movement of said conveyor.

7. A device of the class described comprising a chute, a delivery unit,means supporting said unit for transverse bodily movement relative tothe mouth of said chute, said unit being formed to provide a passagetherethrough, that end of said passage adjacent said chute having afixed dimension, in the direction of movement of said unit, exceedingthe corresponding dimension of said chute, and said passage having afurther section whose corresponding fixed dimension is less than that ofsaid chute, and cam means carried by said unit and engageable to shiftsaid unit transversely.

8. In a machine for depositing articles on elements moving seriallytherepast, a chute through which such articles move successively towardthe path of such elements, means adjacent the delivery end of said chuteproviding a guideway elongated in a direction transverse to thedirection of movement of such elements, a retainer device supported bysaid means and guided by said guideway for movement transverselyrelative to the path of such elements, said retainer device includingmeans always in registry with said chute for holding a single article ina position intersecting the plane of travel of a portion of such anelement, and means operatively connected to said retainer device andflaring laterally to both sides of said path, said means beingengageable by such an element as it approaches said retainer device toshift said retainer device and said single article, relative to saidfirst-named means, into registering alignment with such element.

9. For use with a conveyor and elements carried serially on suchconveyor, a chute for articles to be deposited individually on suchelements, said chute guiding said articles serially toward suchconveyor, means supported adjacent the delivery end of said chute andproviding a guideway extending transversely of the path of movement ofelements on such conveyor, a retainer member supported from said meansand guided by said guideway for movement oppositely in the direction ofextent of said guideway, said retainer member having a mouth registeringat all times with the delivery end of said chute and being arranged toreceive articles serially from said chute end and to retain each sucharticle for deposit on an element carried on such conveyor, a pair ofwings projecting from said retainer member toward and in the plane oftravel of portions of elements advancing on such conveyor, the ends ofsaid wings remote from said member extending laterally away from eachother and the ends of said wings adjacent said member being spaced apartonly sufiiciently to permit such element portions to pass therebetween,said last-named wing ends being equally laterally spaced from the centerof an article supported by said retainer member, whereby each suchelement will accurately register with an article so supported as itpasses said retainer member.

10. In combination, a conveyor adapted to carry bottles past acap-applying station, the transverse dimension of said conveyorexceeding the corresponding dimension of the mouth of a bottle to betransported thereby, a chute arranged above said conveyor to conductflanged caps serially to said cap-applying station, means arranged atthe delivery end of said chute and providing a guideway extendingtransversely relative to said conveyor, a cap retainer supported on saidmeans and guided by said guideway for reciprocatory movement relative tosaid chute and to said conveyor in the direction of extent of saidguideway, said cap-retainer being adapted, in any position within itspath of reciprocation, to receive a cap from said chute and to retainthe same with its flange depending into the plane of travel of themouths of bottles being transported on said conveyor, and cam meansoperatively connected to said retainer, disposed to intersect saidtravel plane, and projecting laterally in opposite directions from theposition of a cap so retained by said retainer, said cam means beingengageable :by a bottle being transported on said conveyor to shift saidretainer to align such cap accurately with the mouth of such bottle.

11. In a device of the class described, a chute for conducting articlesserially to a delivery station, means supported adjacent the deliveryend of said chute and providing a guideway extending transversely withrespect to said chute, an article retainer supported from said means andguided by said guideway for reciprocation transversely relative to saidchute, said retainer having a receiving mouth wider, in said transversedirection, than an article, registering at all times with said chute andhaving converging fingers beyond said mouth engageable with an articleto retain the same, and cam means carried by said retainer andengageable by an element moving in a line substantially perpendicular tothe path of movement of said retainer to shift said retainer to registeran article retained thereby with the line of movement of such element.

12. A device of the class described comprising a chute, a delivery unit,means supported adjacent the delivery end of said chute and providing aguideway elongated transversely of said chute, said delivery unit beingsupported and guided on said guideway for movement transversely of saidchute, said delivery unit being formed to provide a passagetherethrough, that end of said passage adjacent said chute having afixed dimension, in the direction of movement of said unit, exceedingthe corresponding dimension of said chute, whereby said passage end isalways in cooperative registration with said chute delivery end, andsaid passage, adjacent its end remote from said chute, having a fixeddimension, in the direction of movement of said unit, less than thecorresponding dimension of said chute, and cam means carried by saidunit, said cam means comprising a pair of wings projecting from saidunit generally in a direction transverse to the length of said chute andtransverse to the length of said guideway, and diverging as they retreatfrom said unit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

